Fletcher Bay Coastal Walk
For the past five days, we’ve been blessed with a scenery that is one of the New Zealand’s finests. It’s Coromandel. Coromandel Peninsula is the small tip in the North island, east of Auckland. It’s visible from Auckland on a clear day.
My good friend Jenny(she writes at Jenny Far Away) invited us to stay for a while when she got a house-sitting gig here. We are at Wyuna Bay, just 3km outside of Coromandel town. This house is probably one of the most beautifully situated houses I’ve ever stayed. We came here for a little ‘working-holiday’. We thought it would be a great place to concentrate and get some fresh air.
The next morning, I could feel that the whole ‘working-holiday’ plan was out the window. This view is ‘Oh my goodness’ beautiful. It just made me want to jump out and play in the beaches and bushes. But, we regroup and made a lucrative plan for the week.
The first destination was Fletcher Bay coastal walk. We’ll be able to see the tip of the peninsula here. The drive is about 60 km north of Coromandel town. Most of the road was covered with bitumen but some were unsealed. It’s very curvy road, so be careful driving at night or when it’s really windy! Because of the road conditions, it took us about 2 hours to get there.
The drive itself was a treat. There are reasons why I’ve visited this country three times, and this trip is a great example. I’ll just let the photos speak.
Fletcher Bay is a beautiful sandy beach. There’s also a campsite, Fletcher Bay campsite, $10 per night. The coastal walk between Stony and Fletcher Bays follows an easy grade, and crosses farmland and goes through coastal forest with views of the Pinnacles, Great Barrier Island (Aotea Island) to the north and Cuvier Island (Repanga Island) in the east. Just from a short walk, we could be able to see some stunning vista.
About 45 minutes in, I spotted the perfect view. We had more than an hour to go to reach the point we wanted to summit, but I just decided to stop and enjoy this view as much as I could. Sometimes, life is about appreciating the moment, rather than racing to the summit. While Stephen was checking out the trail further down, Jenny and I sat and talked for a while. It was one of those moments that I could remember for a while.
New Zealand is not a big country in any standards, but it can be bigger than others if you count all the wonderful nooks and crannies. Already, I can’t wait to come back for some more of this wonderfulness.
